PULP SHAKESPEARE

If you like Quentin Tarantino's films... And, perhaps, memorized Pulp Fiction... And

Like hearing iambic pentameter
Elizabethan, or just written now

Then you should enjoy Pulp Shakespeare, currently at FringeNYC, after a successful run last year at the Hollywood Fringe Fest.

Remaining performances: Sun., Aug. 19, 5:30 p.m.; Thu., Aug. 23, 9:15 p.m.; Fri., Aug. 24, 2 p.m. (866) 468-7619 or www.fringenyc.org.


Directed by Jordan Monsell, founder and Artistic Director of Her Majesty's Secret Players. The play is based on an adaptation by Ben Tallen, Aaron Greer, Brian Watson-Jones, and Jordan Monsell.

Cast:  Cast: Hannah Beck, Curtis D. Davis, Liza de Weerd, Nathaniel Freeman, John Klopping, David Lautman, Christian Levatino, Aaron Lyons, Juan Perez, BrIan Weiss, Dan White, Justine Woodford and Jordan Monsell.



LINKS

Official Site:
www.pulpshakespeare.com

FringeNYC :
 www.fringenyc.org


Review:
http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-off-off-broadway/ny-review-pulp-shakespeare-1007825752.story

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Theatre for a New Audience Presents...

Andy Grotelueschen and Maggie Siff 

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Photo by Henry Grossman

The Taming of the Shrew

By William Shakespeare

The Duke on 42nd Street

Maggie Siff is a shrew! In all too many productions of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, the "shrew" is not a shrew, but just a bit cross with her language, and the play makes no sense: there is no shrew to tame. In this production, Maggie bursts onto the stage in an obnoxious roar. Katharina is a shrew. It justifies, explains, and humanizes the whole play.

Andy Grotelueschen appears on stage announcing he's there to find a woman. When he hears that Katharina is available, has a rich dad and a fine dowry, he's pleased; and when he hears she's feisty and more, and worse, (and more worser! still), he's delighted. It's a challenge, a game he's happy to play. And he spells out his method, so there's no question he's about to play a game he's going to enjoy... and is playing to win.

This production of Shakespeare's The Taming of The Shrew, with Maggie Siff as Katharina and Andy Grotelueschen as Petruchio, directed by Arin Arbus at Theater For A New Audience (TFANA) is enjoyable, understandable, entertaining and generally excellent.

Andy Grotelueschen and Maggie Siff THE TAMING OF THE SHREWPhoto by Gerry Goodstein

The Taming of The Shrew (TTOTS) is one of Shakespeare's early plays, based on several sources from which different plot elements of the play are taken (including a whole tradition of plays about "taming" women). It was published long after it was written, and there is only one version of the play. (This, of course, leaves open the possibility that the play we have is not exactly what Shakespeare wrote -- that it might contain parts he did not write, and that parts he did write might be missing.)

Another play, published anonymously (close to the time when TTOTS was first written), called THE TAMING OF A SHREW (TTOAS), contains both similarities and differences to Shakespeare's play.

Structurally, both plays begin with a section, called the "Induction," in which a passed-out drunk is discovered by a rich man, who decides to play a prank: he dresses the drunk, Sly, as a rich man and instructs his attendants to convince Sly when he awakes that Sly has just awoken from a years-long drunken madness, and that he is really a rich man. Then the rich man arranges to have a play, namely "The Taming of The Shrew" performed for Sly. So TTOTS is actually the play within the play, introduced by the "Induction".

The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello, are all politically incorrect plays. Shrew is about misogyny, Merchant is about a merciless money-lending Jew, and Othello is about a black man drawn to jealous murder of his innocent white wife.

Modern stage directors typically deal with these unPC themes in some combination of three ways:

-- most often, they emphasize the humanity that Shakespeare gives his character ("Hath not a Jew eyes?");

-- least often, they embrace the slur ("And if you wrong us, do we not revenge?" ... "Even now, now, very now, an old black ram / Is tupping your white ewe.");

-- and sometimes, they deny the obvious political incorrectness and try to create an interpretation of the play that enables a politically correct production.

-- less typically, they find a way to finesse the incorrectness of the story.

Arin Arbus uses a combination of all these techniques.

Most obvious, in this production, is denial: the play in this production is not misogynist: Petruchio does not "tame" Kate, but rather allows her to find herself. Petruchio is playing a game; Katharina is an obnoxious shrew only out of frustration with her inability to communicate with her family and her dislike for any apparently available suitors; and when she warms up to his game and realizes she is in tune with Petruchio (impressed, though skeptical, that he says everything he is doing is for her benefit), Katharina and Petruchio truly fall in love and Katharina can dispense with the bad behavior and become herself. She is not changed, not tamed, but allowed to self-realize her true nature.

As for the other techniques, the production embraces Katharina's early shrewishness, and the production gives all the characters their full measure of humanity and realistic behavior.

Moreover, this production includes the "Induction," the first scene of the play (often omitted from a staging) which establishes "The Taming of the Shrew" as a play with a play, finessing its unPC theme by giving it an extra measure of distancing, or plausible deniability as to its intrinsic misogyny.

The production does have some problems: while the lead characters are terrific, and speak clearly and understandably; and most all the acting is excellent, some of the speeches of some of the characters are at times completely incomprehensible.

Also, Bianca, (played nicely by the pretty -- tho' improbably tall for her character -- Kathryn Saffell, in her OB debut), and the Widow (Owen Fouere) rather suddenly and without dramatic justification turn from ostensible models of "good" behavior at the beginning, to models of truculence against whom Katharina can then rail at the end.

As mentioned before, in the script of The Taming of The Shrew that has come down to us from some years after Shakespeare's time, there is an "Induction," an opening scene which sets up the play, "The Taming of The Shrew" as a play within a play, performed to a drunk who has been dressed up by a rich prankster.

The "Induction" is the only scene in which the framing characters appear. In this production, the characters from the framing -- which is placed inexplicably in the Wild West -- sit in the audience throughout the evening to watch the performance of TTOTS , and even have a few words borrowed from the other play ("The Taming of A Shrew"), in which there is also a framing device.

But then there is nothing more. It would have been more satisfying at the end of the play, even if the framing characters had no more words, to -- at least -- give them a bit of business (perhaps a spotlight on the character, Sly, at the end as he applauds the play he's seen, or show him walking away from the scene thoroughly confused, or still drunk and fast asleep), to complete the framing.

A talk-back after the show (there's another after the Saturday April 14 matinee) made some interesting points. Julie Crawford, from Columbia University stressed the idea that the play as written by Shakespeare embraces simultaneous and conflicting interpretations, while Robert Michels, a Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell was interested in the interpretation of this production which centered -- as described above -- on the way that Katharina and Petruchio find love with each other.

The prominence of discussions of the terms of marriage contracts between men and women in this play was also emphasized.

There was also considerable discussion at the talk-back of the framing device of the Induction which, in addition to serving to distance the play from its presumptive misogyny, also casts a spotlight on the fact that in the original productions of this and Shakespeare's other plays, the roles of women were played by boys and men; and that the role one plays in society can seem to change so easily, here just by dressing up in better clothes.

For more information and tickets:

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

http://www.tfana.org/season/taming-shrew/overview

SOME INTERESTING LINKS:

THEATRE FOR A NEW AUDIENCE (TFANA) is one of New York's most important theaters for the consistently excellent production of Shakespearean plays.

www.tfana.org

TFANA has put together a detailed analysis of the play and this production:

http://www.tfana.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/The-Taming-of-the-Shrew-360-A-Viewfinder-2012.pdf
 

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - WIKIPEDIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew 
 

The Taming of A Shrew (Anonymous), similar in some ways to The Taming of The Shrew (TTOTS), is often taken to be a garbled version of  (a possibly early draft of) TTOTS,  with elements, perhaps, of other plays as well:

http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/taming.html

MAGGIE SIFF (Katharina) ON WIKIPEDIA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Siff

MAGGIE SIFF ON IMDB

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1745019/
 

ANDY GROTELUESCHEN (Petruchio)

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Trinity/actor-andygrotelueschen/

KATHRYN SAFFELL (Bianca)

http://kathrynsaffell.com/

HERE ARE SOME LINKS TO    
SCRIPTS AND VIDEOS

TAMING OF THE SHREW 

ALL VARIATIONS:

(Note: Please check that you are getting the format and version you want; 

the same play comes in many variations!)

LOVE'S FINE WIT (with ME) April 23 AT THE CORNELIA STREET CAFE

LOVE'S FINE WIT

A reading (with music) of Shakespearean sonnets

As the dialog of an intense love triangle

And a concert of Elizabethan music and song.

With Katie Fabel, Jessica Crandall, Heli Sirvio, Hank Heijink, Eric Roffman and friends*

CORNELIA STREET CAFE

April 23, 2011 at 6:00

www.corneliastreetcafe.com

Advance reservations at 212 989-9319 are strongly recommended!

Help us celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday with LOVE’S FINE WIT, a reading (with music) of Shakespeare’s most popular, most powerful, and most complex sonnets – rearranged as the dialog of an intense love triangle, with lust, betrayal, loneliness, and the triumph of true love. And a concert of Elizabethan songs and music!

EVENT LISTING
http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/Performances.asp?sdate=4/23/2011&from_cal=0


*(Performers subject to their continuing availability.)

So... I arranged for a concert with some terrific singers and musicians, and I rearranged Shakespeare's sonnets for a reading. It tells the story of an intense love triangle. The sonnets, heard in this context of a dramatic story, as the dialog of the characters, reveal hidden and unexpected meanings and gain new power. Shakespeare was both a poet and a dramatist. Rather than taking the sonnets as his sort-of-maybe biographical musings, we are taking each sonnet out of its context, away from the usual ordering, and taking each sonnet for itself, then giving it a new context in its role in this dramatic story. Shakespeare in his plays was famous for giving each character his own voice. The sonnets seem to speak out in a whole range of different voices and moods. By taking the sonnets as dialog, as the voice of different characters, and not just WS's own voice, these different voices and moods have a new opportunity to be heard.

Several years ago I did a quite different arrangement of the sonnets:

LOVE IS MY SIN
http://qporit.blogspot.com/2010/03/love-is-my-sin.html


In fact, one (almost defining) feature of the sonnets is that they are ambiguous. The same line can often be taken in two quite different ways, with quite different meanings, depending on how one interprets the syntax. (For example, take another look at the famous last line of sonnet 116!) This ambiguity helps make it possible for a sonnet to gain additional meaning and clarity by giving it a context in which it inherits the specific circumstances laid out by the previous speeches.

In filmmaking and film editing this is a familiar process. A shot of a man looking into the distance becomes a quite different shot, with different emotional content, depending on whether it is preceded by, say, a scene with a cute dog, a beautiful woman, a violent murder, an empty field of wild flowers, or a war.

LOVE'S FINE WIT, the particular rearrangement for this event, I think, tells a very interesting and moving story.

The Shakespearean songs, by the way are integrated into the story. They come from Ross Duffin's wonderful book, Shakespeare's Songbook (which also includes a DVD of many Shakespearean songs), and he himself was both encouraging and helpful in several e-mails.


The date, April 23, is special. Counting back from the date of his baptism, April 23 is usually considered Shakespeare's birthday. So we created this show as part of a three day celebration of Shakespeare's birthday at the Cornelia Street Cafe.

HOPE YOU'LL COME. Be sure to make reservations early!

Advance reservations at 212 989-9319 are strongly recommended!

Tweet this story!

RED BULL THEATER CLASSICAL ACTING WEEKEND INTENSIVE OCT 30-31

RED BULL THEATER

CLASSICAL ACTING
WEEKEND INTENSIVE

Here's an interesting Master Class from the

Red Bull Theater

Two Days Only: October 30-31

Master teachers will be offering classes in
Voice and Verse, Auditioning for the Classics,
Stage Combat, and More

Instructors
Red Bull Theater master teachers are professional artists working in the field, with teaching experience. Previous courses have been taught by Stuart Howard, casting director; J. David Brimmer, fight director; actors Patrick Page, Matthew Rauch, Michael Urie, Red Bull Theater artistic director Jesse Berger, and more. New courses will be taught by some of the above, and feature new teachers of the same high caliber.


Small class size - Limited number of spaces available!
Classes will be held at 416 West 42nd Street.

Full tuition only $400.
For two full days, immerse yourself in the world of classical text, acting Shakespeare, stage combat, and more. Prepare for your next role, or your next audition. Give yourself the tools you need to get started, or brush up on your old skills. Over two days, you will have four in-depth sessions with our master teachers, giving ample time to dig in and explore this challenging material, and engage one-on-one with these working professionals.

Enroll Online at

www.REDBULLTHEATER.com

Note: There may be a $25 discount if you reserve your spot by October 1st. Call them!

Email mathilde@redbulltheater.com for more info or to make your reservation today.

Get in charge of the language and express your soul!


www.REDBULLTHEATER.com

JUDE LAW AS HAMLET (& WATSON)

Jude Law is a terrific Hamlet.

He is clear, understandable, and looks just right.

Before I saw the show (the Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare's Hamlet, directed by Michael Grandage), I was skeptical of casting Jude Law as Hamlet: I've sometimes found him underwhelming in films; yet, he is a movie star. So I was afraid he might look wrong: too old, too movie-star-ish; and sound wrong: not have the vocal charisma to carry the role.

It was exactly the opposite.

Although he is six feet tall, he somehow looks young and small, at least compared to the "broad-framed" Kevin R. McNally who was cast as his uncle Claudius, the new king. So he seemed appropriate physically. And vocally he was commanding and completely understandable.

By the way, although Hamlet is said to be away at University, so we might think of him as quite young -- in his twenties or younger -- the Gravedigger says that Yorick has "lain in the earth three and twenty years," and Hamlet says he " knew him... a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times." Let's say Hamlet was 6 when Yorick died, give or take three years, that would make Hamlet somewhere between 26 and 32. So, in fact, a thirty-something actor is at an appropriate age to play this part.

The production as a whole is quite excellent. One of the clearest, simplest and most straightforward I've ever seen. I had only a few small problems with it. I was mystified by the reason for having the Player King and Ghost of Hamlet's father played by the same actor. It confused the meaning of the ghost (and the play), and added nothing. Also, I found the physical relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet weak. Especially since this version seemed strong (verbally) in describing their relationship: Though Polonius (but not Hamlet or Gertrude) feared that Ophelia was too much a "commoner" to be an acceptable queen for Hamlet, both Hamlet and Gertrude thought Ophelia and Hamlet had loved each other (before Hamlet left for the University). Gertrude thought they would marry. Yet, somehow, Hamlet never behaved with Ophelia convincingly as his one-time love, and Ophelia never behaved like a potential queen.

Despite these two minor issues, I enjoyed the play, and came out of this production with a much clearer understanding and appreciation of it. All in all, Jude Law and the director, Michael Grandage, and the whole Donmar company, created an especially well thought out and played presentation of this most difficult yet brilliant play.

Jude Law has a number of films currently in the pipeline. I'm looking forward to seeing him as Dr. Watson in Sherlock Holmes:



JUDE LAW as Dr. John Watson
in "Sherlock Holmes".
Photo by Alex Bailey from WARNER BROS.

Guy Ritchie's casting, with Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock, and Jude Law as Watson, is certainly revisionist casting, after the "standard" films with a lean Basil Rathbone as Sherlock and a portly Nigel Bruce as Watson.

OTHELLO

John Ortiz as Othello, Jessica Chastain as Desdemona, and
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Iago in OTHELLO
Photo by Armin Bardel

The LAByrinth production of Othello, (here's the text) directed by Peter Sellars, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Iago, John Ortiz as Othello and Jessica Chastain as Desdemona, is a feast for students and directors of Shakespeare, but quite skimpy on the delivery of emotion, especially in (what is usually) the cataclysmic conclusion.

There are many strange features in this production, some of which help illuminate the richness of the play, some of which confuse the audience and dissipate the power of the story and some of which actually do both.

Peter Sellars, of course, is best known for opera productions which have a reputation for quirky originality.

The first striking feature of the production is the slow pace at which the actors speak. This allows an audience unused to Shakespearean language to understand and process far more than is ever possible when the actors (as Hamlet suggested) speak their words trippingly on the tongue. Audience members (and actors) are allowed to savor and appreciate the poetry and the words.

For audiences used to the rhythms of modern films, and more interested in the experience than the details, however, this rich but 4 hour long presentation can seem plodding and tedious.

A second feature of the production is that Desdemona's father Brabantio is cut out of the play, characters are combined, and suddenly the characters pull out cell phones and start talking to each other across the room and on microphones. This gets the play off to a shaky start (not to mention the fact that the sound system seemed to be flaky for a while the night I saw the show). People new to the play, and those who know the play by heart are equally able to be confused about who is who and why they say what they say, at the beginning. (Not surprisingly, the appearance of the cell phones provoked some not very supportive laughter from the audience.)

The play is set (mostly) in a military base in Cyprus. This provides a universal, timeless environment in which to enact the tragedy.

However, Sellars does not seem to take this setting seriously. Hoffman, with a pot belly, and casual clothes, never in uniform, is vocally a great Iago, but physically impossible to imagine as a candidate for Othello's next in command. Other characters are in and out of uniform, and the set design does not evoke a military base, except fleetingly.

In most productions, Desdemona is a problem: The relation between Othello and Desdemona (O & D) is vapid and unconvincing. Here, Desdemona is a strong, though naive character. And there is a lot of physical communication between Othello and Desdemona. They kiss a lot, and lie next to each other a lot. This is a big improvement over most productions. Yet it still seems like puppy love. Because of the open set design, the other characters can freely observe Desdemona and Othello making out on a super-modern, stylized electronic bed. But what they see and what we see is not what Iago describes to Brabantio, Desdemona's father:

IAGO: Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is topping your white ewe.

This -- if taken to be an accurate representation of the O & D affair -- suggests that any glimpses we see of their physical relationship should be torrid passion, not innocent necking.

(If, in Sellars version, the intention is for Iago to be misleading Brabantio about the nature of Othello's affair, and the relation between Desdemona and Othello is intended to be depicted as almost High-Schoolish, then it takes away much of the urgency of the whole play. Note -- Since Brabantio is not in this production at all, I was a little confused at the time these lines were delivered, and it is hard to remember how these lines were used in this production.)

It was Sellars intention to create an Othello for the Obama generation. Sellars seems to consider most productions of Othello as demeaning to blacks in general and Othello in particular. It seems to have been Toni Morrison who changed his mind about the play (see the video interviews -- click on see all!)

In assessing the treatment of Othello in the play, realize that here is a black man, in white Europe, hailed as a great soldier, loved by a beautiful white woman for his character, having sex with her (and possibly other women), marrying her despite some objection by her father, and commissioned for an important military expedition. This is in a play written more than 400 years ago. How many modern plays, TV shows or movies treat a black character in an interratial sexual/romantic relationship and interratial career, with such importance?

Othello, the man, the general, is not a puppet for a simple anti-black propaganda play; he should be taken seriously by the director, the audience and the world. He is a great man and a terrible killer. And his interratial marriage is at the center of the play. The play is about the reaction of all the characters to Othello, his position, and his beautiful wife.

So I think it is a mistake, even in accentuating other aspects of the play, as Sellars does brilliantly, to minimize the importance of the basic thread. The relation -- the interracial relation -- between Othello and Desdemona should not be minimized. Indeed it should be maximized to the extent of exhibiting a physically provocative -- rather than timid -- passion. (In the "pre-Obama world" a black man would not be shown coupling with a beautiful white woman. The "post-Obama world" should portray these people as they are created in the play.)

Generally speaking, the casting of a Latino as Othello, and a black man as Cassio, and a big black woman as a combination of characters, does support Sellars stated ambition of making the play more about universal issues, and less about a stupid, credulous, murderous black man than is perhaps (he believes) usually the case. Liza Colón-Zayas as Emilia, Iago's wife, excellently carries Sellars' idea of how her character's silence is as important as Iago's deception in deluding Othello, and how her courage in revealing the deception unwinds the plot. (However, casting Philip and Liza as a couple is dubious; they are not convincing as a married couple.)

Indeed Sellars' essay and video interviews about the production are extremely interesting. He did accomplish what he set out to do. But, as so often happens, it is what he did not do and did not focus on and therefore did not do, that cause the weaknesses in the production.

It is at the end that the play has the greatest and strangest lapses:

1-- The classic line:

OTHELLO: Put out the light, and then put out the light

is not matched with any action that makes sense of the line. Othello is walking in meaningless circles around the bed.

2 -- The stylized electronic bed does not allow or evoke the emotions raised by the lines:

DESDEMONA: Prithee, tonight
Lay on my bed my wedding sheets: remember;

The wedding sheets, which should carry enormous emotional power, are missing from the bed, and can not deliver the message they should carry to Othello (and to the audience).

3 -- And finally, Ortiz simply does not produce the physical or vocal strength necessary to convey the powerful emotions that would illuminate this twisting of Othello from lover to killer and then convey the cosmic remorse that suddenly erupts when he realizes what horror he has committed; how he has been deceived, betrayed and destroyed.

So, all in all, I enjoyed this production and learned much from it, but did not exit from the theater emotionally devastated!


This is only the beginning of the "Othello Project," for Peter Sellars. According to the notes distributed at the theater, Sellars and Toni Morrison are discussing a prequel to Othello, called "Desdemona," starting from the stories that Othello told Desdemona so that she fell in love with him. And Sellars is planning to return to Othello as well as Toni Morrison's "Desdemona," in part with the idea of developing a film. This project should be exceptionally illuminating to all those who love Shakespeare.


In addition, on Sunday October 4, there will be a free panel discussion about Othello:

OTHELLO DISCUSSION EVENT
FREE OTHELLO DISCUSSION SUNDAY October 4:

"Is It Possible?": Othello in the Age of Obama

Luis Argueta, documentary filmmaker;
Mary Schmidt Campbell, Dean of Tisch School of the Arts;
Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx; and
Carmen Peláez, playwright and actress.

Moderated by Dr. Avery T. Willis, who has collaborated with Peter Sellars as an assistant director and dramaturg since 2006.

OTHELLO Sunday Speakers Series

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 3:00-4:00PM

General Admission Lobby opens at 2:15PM

NYU Skirball Center
566 LaGuardia Place & Washington Square South

Here are some interesting links:

WEB VIDEO -- James Earl Jones -- Othello's Testimony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJybA1emr_g&feature=related




Kenneth Branagh's version:


Paul Robeson as Othello & Uta Hagen as Desdemona:

Coming: INTO THE HAZARD (HENRY 5)

INTO THE HAZARD [Henry 5]
by William Shakespeare

Adapted and directed by Jessica Bauman

"INTO THE HAZARD [Henry 5] is a raw and riveting new adaptation of Shakespeare's politically charged, battle-filled history saga. Peppered with mock media footage, from Fox News to reality TV, this modern minimalist production exposes how television shapes our perceptions of war and heroism.

This just in: The fight for the French throne rages on as a young and underestimated English king rises to iconic status amidst threats to national security and a military assault designed to divert attention from issues at home.

Six actors portray over 20 different characters, on stage & screen, transporting the play's scenes from the royal court to a series of backroom negotiations and private deals.

INTO THE HAZARD [Henry 5] propels the Bard's 1599 epic into the media-obsessed world of 2009. "

Featuring: NICK DILLENBURG, DAVID MCCANN*, ERIN MOON*, LUIS MORENO*, TREVOR VAUGHN*, SCOTT WHITEHURST*

With video appearances by: KELLY AUCOIN*, CHRISTOPHER BURNS*, DENIS BUTKUS*, KEVIN KELLY*, GODFREY SIMMONS*, SAMANTHA SOULE*

Set and Lighting Design by CHRISTOPHER AKERLIND
Costume Design by EMILY PEPPER
Video Design by AUSTIN SWITSER
Sound Design by JEREMY LEE
Stage Manager EMILY PAIGE BALLOU
Assistant Stage Manager MEI LING ACEVEDO*
Choreographer SCOTT BARROW
Assistant Director SAMANTHA TELLA
Casting by JUDY BOWMAN
General Management/Line Producer LISA DOZIER
Production Manager MATTHEW CECCHINI
Graphic Design by ACEGOULET.COM

INTO THE HAZARD [Henry 5]
Presented by New Feet Productions

MAY 30 - JUNE 20, 2009

Walkerspace, 46 Walker Street,

NYC SCHEDULE
Thursday @ 8:00pm
Friday @ 8:00pm
Saturday @ 8:00pm
Sunday @ 7:00pm
Monday @ 7:00pm

Tickets: Available at Ticket Central: 212.279.4200

Or CLICK http://www.ticketcentral.com/showdetails2.asp?showid=2087 TO PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE!

Or In Person - Box Office open one (1) hour before each performance.

For more information, visit http://www.intothehazard.com/

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

What do you get when you mix a picnic lunch, your local NYC neighborhood park and a fun and friendly, no frills Shakespeare production?

Curious Frog Theatre Company's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING!

IT'S A COMEDY. IT'S FREE. AND IT'S COMING TO A PARK NEAR YOU.

· SAT 8/23/08 SUNSET PARK
· SUN 8/24/08 ASTORIA PARK
· SAT 8/30/08 INWOOD HILL PARK (Very close to mi casa)
· SUN 8/31/08 EAST RIVER PARK
· SAT 9/06 BAISLEY POND PARK
· SUN. 9/07 RIVERSIDE PARK
· SUN 9/21 FORT GREENE PARK
· SAT 9/27 ASTORIA PARK
· SUN 9/28 QUEENSBRIDGE PARK

ALL PERFORMANCES AT 4:00 PM

Maps, Directions & ALL THE DETAILS AT:
WWW.CURIOUSFROG.ORG

FOOD OF LOVE - SHAKESPEARE & CHARDONNAY

Long Island Wineries Serve Up Shakespeare & Chardonnay with

FOOD OF LOVE

July 11 & 12

This July, two Long Island wineries will serve up FOOD OF LOVE, a light-hearted look at love with words by William Shakespeare and wine by the glass.

Produced by Spitfire Theatre, this unique theatrical experience is created and directed by Abigail Anderson, an English director who has worked at Shakespeare's Globe in London and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Anderson has been described by The Oxford Times as "one of the most exciting and eclectic young directors in the UK."

Laugh with Benedick and Beatrice, sigh with Romeo and Juliet, get steamy with Petruchio and Kate! FOOD OF LOVE brings together some of Shakespeare's most romantic love scenes, songs, and poems in a specially created show for some of Long Island's most picturesque outdoor locations.

Audiences will have the chance to sample the local wines as part of a relaxed summer evening, in addition to exploring the vineyards and enjoying the show.

Director Abigail Anderson says, "The beauty of Shakespeare's language is perfectly complemented by the beautiful surroundings of Long Island's wineries. We're delighted to have the chance to perform here and, in doing so, throw the spotlight on to the flourishing wine-growing community on the North and South Forks."

The 50 minute performance showcases the talent of four professional actors, all experienced Shakespearean performers, who will move in and around the audience to create an unforgettable and intimate theatre experience. The cast is: Khris Lewin, Adam Mastrelli, Amy Prosser, and Laura Rikard.

FOOD OF LOVE is the beginning of a long term project by Spitfire Theatre to bring high quality, accessible and inspiring Shakespeare performances to Long Island.

Performances will take place rain or shine as follows:

Friday, July 11 at 7:00pm
Palmer Vineyards in Aquebogue, Long Island
Located at 5120 Sound Avenue Aquebogue, NY 11931

Directions: Take the LIE to last exit (exit 73). Continue east on RT 58 to Osborne Ave. Turn left. Drive to end (Sound Ave). Turn right. Drive 6 miles to Palmer Vineyards, on the left.

Wine writer Howard Goldberg once described Palmer as, "Long Island's most important winery." Palmer wines are sold in many states across the country and can be found in many top restaurants such as Gallaghers Steak House, Fultons Crabhouse, The View Restaurant, and many more.


Saturday, July 12 at 7:00pm
Castello di Borghese in Cutchogue, Long Island
Located at 17150 County Route 48, Cutchogue, NY 11935

Directions: Take the L.I. Expressway I-495 to Exit 73 toward Greenport/ Orient. This is CR-58. Follow for 2 miles until reaching roundabout. Take 2nd exit off roundabout, continuing on CR-58. Turn left onto Northville Turnpike/CR-43 at traffic light. Turn right onto Sound Ave. at stop sign. Castello di Borghese will be approximately 9 miles on your right.

Winner of "Best Winery" Editor's Choice Award from Long Island Press. Borghese Vineyard has the oldest vines producing the finest wines in this winemaking region. Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc are their signature wines, along with many award winners including Meritage and Chardonnay.



All tickets are $55.00 in advance and $60 at the door. Tickets are available at http://www.theatermania.com/ or toll-free 1-866-811-4111.

Doors open 30 minutes prior to each performance.

For more information visit http://www.spitfiretheatre.com/.

FOR TEENS: SHAKESPEARE LAB JR @ THE PUBLIC

Calling all New York City Teenagers!

Are you a New York City teenager who is interested in the arts, theater or poetry? Do you enjoy acting onstage and meeting new people? Are you looking for something fun and rewarding to do during your summer vacation?

How about a FREE SHAKESPEARE WORKSHOP in the heart of the East Village!

If you, or someone you know, is a teenager (ages 13-19) who lives in one of the Five Boroughs, then the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab Jr. program is right for you.

Located near Astor Place in the heart of the East Village, Shakespeare Lab Jr. is an intensive summer workshop program for highly motivated young people entering grades 9-12. Participants spend 5 action-packed days inside the world-famous Public Theater working with our energetic staff of professional teaching artists to engage in a unique and exciting exploration of history's most famous playwright—William Shakespeare.

Over the course of one full week, participants will gather inside the Public Theater's landmark building to:

EXPLORE Shakespeare's most powerful plays, plots, themes and characters;

PLAY theater games and interact with their peers in a safe environment;

LEARN acting, movement and voice skills;
WRITE and perform their very own sonnets!
Participants who complete the program will have the chance to:

PERFORM onstage at the Public Theater for family and friends!

JOIN Summer Shake Up: a special one-day event at the famous Delacorte Theater in Central Park home of the world renowned "Shakespeare in the Park". Exclusive backstage tour of the theater, workshop with Public Theater Artists, and a free box lunch.

GET FREE TICKETS to see the Public Theater's highly anticipated production of Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park (participants get 2 free tickets without having to wait in line!)

PLUS a special NEW program: SUMMER SHAKEUP -- a special visit to the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home of the world-famous "Shakespeare in the Park." Games, workshops, activities, a free lunch, and a chance to act on one of the most important Shakespeare stages in the world.

Shakespeare Lab Jr. is FREE, and is open to students in New York City. Workshops take place August 11-15 and August 18-22, Monday through Friday. Participants may choose between a morning session (9:30-1:30pm) and an afternoon session (2:30-6:30pm).

Register ONLINE Today!

If you are registering a GROUP — CLICK HERE.

If you are registering as an individual — CLICK HERE.

"I am much more confident about my speaking now and this will definitely help me out when I speak and present projects" -Ohahida Arabi, Shakespeare Lab Jr. participant

"What I liked most about the workshop is how you were able to meet new people and interact in a safe environment, learning Shakespeare in a fun way." -Kelsey Knutsen, Shakespeare Lab Jr. participant

"This workshop gave (my daughter) the confidence she needed to tackle Shakespeare!" -parent of participant, Sarah Gaines



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SHAKESPEARE LAB AT THE PUBLIC

The highly acclaimed SHAKESPEARE LAB actor training program (at New York's Public Theater), is now accepting applications for its 12-week acting intensive on June 2-August 25, 2008.

Scholarships are available to cover the cost of tuition.

At the Tribeca Film Festival, I had a chance to talk with Amir Arison (a young, rising star in theater, film and TV) who has taken the LAB, and he found it extremely valuable!

Now entering its fourteenth year, The Public Theater Shakespeare Lab presents a unique opportunity for actors to develop their classical skills. Founded by former artistic producer of The Public Theater, Rosemarie Tichler, the Lab immerses the actor in Shakespeare's plays and language under the instruction of some of the most respected teachers of classical theater in New York and the world. In previous years, faculty has included Christopher Bayes, Ron Van Lieu, Michael Cumpsty, John Dias, Kate Forbes, J. Steven White, and Janet Zarish. Guest Artists have included Dana Ivey, Mark Lamos, Roger Rees, Liev Schreiber, Jordan Thaler and George C. Wolfe. Under the leadership of Director Barry Edelstein and Associate May Adrales since 2007, the Shakespeare Lab continues to evolve into one of the country's most successful training programs for Shakespearean performance.

Throughout the summer, Lab actors will enrich their understanding of Shakespeare and his plays through intensive study and performance; develop skills in clown, movement, voice and teaching, and forge significant relationships with fellow Lab members, teachers and members of The Public Theater's professional community of artists. Numerous graduates of the Shakespeare Lab have gone on to secure roles on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in regional theaters, in addition to work in film and television. The Lab provides a unique opportunity for actors to work on their craft during The Public Theater's world-renowned Shakespeare programming at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

For more information about the application process, call 212-539-8525.

ON THE WAY TO TIMBUKTU

This is not a review. It's more of a rumination on making a play from Shakespeare's sonnets.

Dispensing with the review part: On the Way to Timbuktu is a fierce one-woman play about a professor of Shakespeare and her history. It's an interesting play, very, very well performed by Petronia Paley, in an intense performance that never flags. See it! Friday (12/21) was the last night in this run at EST (the Ensemble Studio Theater) , but it was described as a "work-in-progress," so keep in mind to see it when "progress" next produces a public performance.

Now the commentary:

A few years ago, I staged a two character short play ("Love Is My Sin" at TSI / PlayTime -- in their “Seven Deadly Sins from Shakespeare” series) with dialog consisting entirely of sonnets. The characters were an Older Man (OM) and a Younger Woman (YW). (I played the OM and Amy Quint played the YW.) They had a strong relationship and, when they are separated, the man has a brief, torrid affair with "The Dark Lady (DL)." When it ends, he returns to YW, but reconciliation is difficult. Originally, the Dark Lady (DL) was also a character in my adaptation, but when the (foreign born) actress who was to be DL got a part in her native country, she left abruptly just before the run, and I had to cut the sonnets which showed the explicit affair, and left that sequence as an implied event.

I'm currently starting to rehearse a full-length, three character version of this story. It's a musical -- but an unusual one: a classical music musical. It is to have dialog constructed entirely from the sonnets, plus Elizabethan instrumental music, song and dance.

The sonnets are enticing, and enigmatic. They seem to be trying to tell a story, but it is not complete, it is not in order, and it is tantalizing. The 154 sonnets, taken as a group, might best be described as if its printing resulted from the following scenario: It was to be a complete story (like Shakespeare’s other long, narrative poems), written this time in the form of sonnets, about an older man (a poet), a young man, (the lover of the poet), a rival poet, and a sexy, black haired, black eyed, possibly black, promiscuous woman (who had affairs with at least two of the other characters). Then, before it was completely finished, while still in draft form (with some elements of the story yet to be written, and variant versions of some story line sonnets still in the manuscript), the document was snatched. But, on the way to be taken to the printer, the manuscript was dropped, with pages scattered to the winds, some blown away and lost, and others gathered up in the wrong order.

The challenge has always been to understand the nature of the sonnets: are they autobiographical? If so, who is The Dark Lady? And the Young Man? Why are they in this order? Are there other sonnets? Why are so many in pairs? Etc.

Of course, if the sonnets are to be taken and performed as autobiographical, then they must all be spoken in an older male voice. If they are to be performed by various men and women of various ages, then one can – in fact must -- take advantage of the fact that some of the sonnets contain some information about the speaker and the subject of the poem, and many do not, so each sonnet can be given a context grounded on what it does or does not say, and can be coupled with other sonnets to create a new context and a new meaning (much the way, in film editing, each image – each shot, each scene -- colors those before and after it with new meaning, by defining a context.)

There is a love triangle in the sonnets, which is suggested (by the context in the original order) to be the Young Man (YM), the Older Man (OM) and DL. (There may even be a love rectangle -- with the Other Poet (OP) – though, here, the sonnets provide rather sparse material for constructing a story.)

But there is also enough information and lack of information in the sonnets to rearrange them to construct a love triangle consisting of the Older Man, DL and a Younger Woman, instead of the Young Man: the Man-Woman-Lady or MWL triangle, rather than the MML triangle. I thought this would be more fun (at least for me) when I wrote the adaptation, so this is what I did. (Rearranging the sonnets also justifies the speaking of some sonnets by people other than Shakespeare; and it reveals new meanings and shades of meanings in the sonnets.)

For example, the first group of sonnets, taken in context to be Shakespeare or the OM encouraging the Young Man to have children, yields many sonnets that can be taken in MWL context as the YW encouraging the OM to have a child (with her!) before he is too old and it is too late (ie. before he dies single). There are several other story lines implicit and explicit in the sonnets: the love triangle -- three relationships are described, with love, as well as jealousy, and breakups. Aging is an issue, as are music, and art.

I don't know the genesis of On the Way to Timbuktu (OtWtT). (It started in EST's Going to the River series, but that is not what I mean.) Selene (the central character) is a professor, teaching Shakespeare's sonnets. There are several elements in the play. There is the lecture and discussion Selene gives about the sonnets; there is, in particular, a discussion of the role of the DL as a black woman in Elizabethan times. There is Selene’s love history; there is, in particular a love triangle she is involved with – here, a black woman (a student who is first involved with Selene, then with Selene and her husband in a threesome), who leaves with Selene’s husband. There is Selene’s performance of the sonnets, some in the context of her character speaking in class, some as her character speaking in the context of this love triangle. (The sonnets used are essentially limited to those appropriate to the YM commenting on the love triangle.)

I am not sure whether to take the play as a story about this woman, who then uses the sonnets to express herself; or whether to imagine that it had its genesis in a thought process much like that for the plays I am working on: how do you provide a context for a performance of some of the sonnets? What can you say about – or how can you construct -- a story from which the sonnets emerge? From this point of view, the play, OtWtT, provides the back story of the Younger Woman, explaining her life as she comes into this love triangle in which – as a professor teaching the sonnets – she uses them to express herself. (In the play, she is now, actually, a no-longer-younger woman, looking back over her life.)

Talking more about OtWtT for a moment: This is quintessential "experimental" theater. The set is just one slightly raised area in a black box theater, with an object on it that serves ingeniously as a bed, a couch, a chair, a make-up stand, and a closet. There is but one actress. She is dressed in a white pajama-like outfit, which makes a striking contrast with the black set. She is well lit and makes the most of her physical life on the stage, providing a series of visual tableau, that bring a variety of places around the globe to life.

Somewhat less successful are semi-abstract images projected on the wall behind her -- they are interesting, but mostly not very interesting. Sometimes the text of sonnets she is performing are projected on the back wall; but they don't really help clarify what she is saying, because it is easier and more satisfying to watch and listen to her, than it is to try to read the sonnets on the wall. And, I confess, I did not understand the end, when she puts on black-face, and dons an Elizabethan gown over her white outfit.

A musical background composed and performed -- on a Chinese instrument called the pipa -- by Min Xiao-Fen is quite beautiful and special, and never fails to be interesting and appropriate, although the insturment has no special direct relevance (so far as the play reveals) either to Shakespeare (as it might be if the instrument or the music were Elizabethan) or to the character (as it might be if it were African) . (The instrument does seem to have some sort of distant resemblance to both a lute and African instruments.)

The OtWtT script is well written, and interesting. Much of the play consists of stories the character tells, the actress shifting clearly and flawlessly from one person’s voice to another. It does contain a few too many clichés for my taste – most of which seem to be there deliberately, though, as something the character would say.

The script often centers on Selene’s sexual life with language that is unflinching; as a one-woman show, the sexuality is essentially in the words and the stories, not on stage in the action.

In talking about the possibly autobiographical nature of the sonnets and the role of the DL in Shakespeare as either symbolic or as a historical black woman, I think it should probably be noted that some sonnets contain strong echoes of dialog from some of Shakespeare's plays, suggesting that the sonnets could reasonably be taken as speeches by characters, rather than by Shakespeare himself. In particular, there could be a relation between the DL sonnets and Othello, casting some light on what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote about the DL. Also, while a replica of (the fossil) Lucy’s skull (as black woman/ancestor/eve) makes an arresting prop, the most interesting ancestor -- according to current scholarship -- is probably not Lucy, (who lived about 3 million years ago, and was not a direct ancestor) but a woman (or at most a few women) who lived a few hundred thousand years ago, from whom all modern humans may be descendent.

OtWtT, then, crafts a very effective one-woman play around the notion that Shakespeare’s sonnets – those that describe an affair between a man and the DL, disrupting the relationship the speaker has had with each of them -- can be performed as being spoken by the woman who is the man’s long time friend/lover and the DL’s lover as well. And OtWtT is the story of her life.

The short play I did, and the new play I am developing, involves similar characters, but focuses exclusively on the sonnets as dialog, and the description of their lives as revealed in the sonnets. There is no back-story described, other than what is in the sonnets; and all the words are those of the sonnets themselves, telling the story of this intense triangular affair.

One thing is clear about the sonnets: they tell a fierce, sexual and powerful story, in eloquent and beautiful and poetic language; to realize the sonnets on the stage, the performance must engage each of those elements and reach the heights for all of them.

There have been other plays inspired by the sonnets, including Shaw’s “The Dark Lady of the Sonnets” and a collection of short plays done at The Public Theater a few years ago, called “Love’s Fire.” More about these later.